Alan Rickman dies aged 69

The star's death was confirmed today (January 14th) by his family, he had been suffering from cancer.

Born in London in 1946, Rickman trained at the RADA and made his name as a stage actor before scoring a key role in the BBC's 1982 adaptation of Barchester Towers.

From there his career took off and during the following 30 years he would take starring roles in blockbusters like Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, Die Hard, Love Actually and, most famously, as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movie series.

As well as a distinguished acting career Rickman also worked as a director and was behind the camera as recently as 2015 with the period drama A Little Chaos.